SHOULD CHILDREN IN NEW HAVEN BE GIVEN PRIORITY ADMISSION TO SCHOOLS IN THEIR COMMUNITY BEFORE SUBURBAN STUDENTS ARE ASSIGNED SPACES?

[N'Zinga Shani]

There has been a continuous struggle in many New Haven areas for parents who live in NH to get their children into their neighborhood schools; this is particularly true when those schools are also prized inter-district magnet schools.  The New Haven Independent has brought us many articles on the issues raised in this ongoing debate.  This article, posted on May 30, 2012 is only the latest.  The article is informative and provides links to past discussions at the NH Board of Education and elsewhere.  Civic Engagement is essential to our democracy. We invite you to read this article in its entirety and follow some of the links to learn more; the title:

Linehan: Suburban Parents Don’t Game Pre-K

http://www.newhavenindependent.org/index.php/archives/entry/as_redi...

We also invite you to read the article linked here:  Magnet Schools Attract Mobile Families. Please visit the education section of our OneWorld web site to learn more about some of the wonderful things happening in NH Intra-district, Inter-district and Neighborhood PS. http://www.oneworldpi.org/education/education_videos.html

The comments posted to these articles are also enlightening.  We strongly encourage our readers to try NOT TO TAKE SIDES, but rather to try and put yourself in the circumstance of the other and think about some key issues: 

1.  Early Education is the solid foundation upon which academic success is built.

2.  What are the choices available to parents in New Haven? How easy is it to access those choices?

3.  What are the choices available to parents who live in suburban towns?

4.  What are the costs/benefits ratio to the NHPS system and to students in NHPS to have  between 25 percent and 50 percent of the spaces in NH Inter-district Magnet Schools occupied by students from the suburbs?

5. Please take note of Mr. Linehan's statements.  Also keep in mind that the Magnet School Program came about as a result of Sheff V. O'Neil, and the desire to end racial, ethnic and academic isolation for poor students.  Do the conditions the resolutions offered by Sheff  were designed to address still exist today? And if so, are those conditions being addressed?

If they are being addressed, are they being adequately addressed by the current Magnet Schools Program as being implemented by NHPS?  (Do other towns have magnet schools?)

If you do not believe the conditions are being addressed, what should be done to address them, and who is responsible for addressing these conditions?

Please contribute by answering these questions or make suggestions/recommendations.

1. WHAT DO YOU THINK CAN BE DONE TO EFFECTIVELY ADDRESS THE ISSUES RAISED?

2. WHETHER YOU ARE A NH PARENT OR A SUBURBAN PARENT, WHAT, IF ANY, ARE YOUR MAIN CONCERNS ABOUT OUR PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM IN NEW HAVEN, IN CT, AND IN SUBURBAN TOWNS?

3. WHY ARE SO MANY SUBURBAN PARENTS ELECTING TO SEND THEIR CHILDREN TO INTER-DISTRICT MAGNET SCHOOLS IN NEW HAVEN?

4.  WHAT DO YOU THINK SHOULD BE THE PRIORITY CONCERNS FOR THE NHPS ADMNISTRATION? 

5.  BASED UPON THE INFORMATION YOU HAVE READ, AND OTHER INFORMATION YOU HAVE GATHERED, WHAT DO YOU BELIEVE TO BE THE TWO MAIN PROBLEMS, AND HOW CAN THESE BE ADDRESSED AND RESOLVED?